Plan Formulation in Town Planning

PLAN FORMULATION
PLANNING PROCESS
Planning is a continuous, time-oriented, cyclic process and, therefore, spatial development planning shall be seen
and practiced as a process where planning, implementation, monitoring, review and plan updations go on as a
dynamic process. In this process, the decision to prepare a plan is outside the cycle of planning process. Following
diagram portrays the general process of planning.
Following are the stages of planning process:
1. Selection of Aims and Objectives,
2. Identification of site needs,
3. Identification of projected needs,
4. Plan formulation,
5. Inclusive planning,
6. Statutory obligations,
7. Decentralisation of plan approval process,
8. Peoples participation,
9. Plan modification,
10.Review and revision of plans.
Identification of Projected Needs

After identification of site needs, the next stage in the process of planning is identification of projected
requirements of various activities, supporting infrastructure and land as the basic input for plan formulation.
It is this stage of planning which would require most of the time.
it is emphasised that primary surveys and studies should be rationally chosen so that it saves time and
minimises delays in the process.
The choice of technique of surveys, analysis, synthesis and projections should also be such that it is
effective and time saving.
1. Gaps & Projections
. Expansion or development of settlement necessarily requires corresponding provision of infrastructure to
support residents and economic activities. Thus, infrastructure gap analysis shall be carried out mandatorily
while preparing the plan.
. Infrastructure gap can be assessed on the basis of remaining life of existing infrastructure and coverage of
infrastructure against benchmarks.
. Special focus must be paid to the transport infrastructure at this stage. Detailed study of different modes of
transportation and their corridors shall be carried out to find about travel demand and patter of the planning
area.
. Using public consultations and carrying capacity techniques (further elaborated in the Chapter on Special
Planning Techniques), current or future requirements in infrastructure can be identified.
. The background study of standards and guidelines for disaster mitigation shall be completed to find out the
gaps that may exist in city infrastructure, landscape and administration.
. Aims and objectives of the study should also be considered at this level for setting up priorities of
development.
. To incorporate the element of sustainability in human settlement planning and development, environmental
and infrastructural carrying capacity study of the planning area must be carried out at this stage.
. Population projections can be carried out based on past trends, employment and induced growth (due to the
future proposed economic activity of the land).
. Priorities for planned development are identified through norms and standards for buildings, provision of
services and infrastructure provided by national agencies, national and state level programmes and policies.
2. Consultation
. Public participation is the key to planning exercise and hence different group of stakeholders should be
consulted to know the needs and finalise the priorities for projections.
. Different demographic, social, economic categories of stakeholders can be prepared for wide-ranging public
participation such as representatives from agencies and institutions involved in planning and development of
Projected Requirements
Assessment of projected requirements should be for a period of twenty to thirty years and it should further be
classified under periods of 5 year in lieu with State five year plans and State Finance Commission reports. This
classification of projected requirement would help in preparation of annual plans and budget.
1. Population:
.
Proposed population, (the population projected should be guided by environmental and infrastructure
[especially drinking water] sustainability and holding capacity of the city. Dispersal of economic activity also
guide population projection)
. Floating population, age sex composition, literates.
2. Economic base and employment:
. Hierarchy of commercial areas, dispersal of commercial activity and related activities
. Dispersal of industries or restriction of specific type of industries considering pollution level, environmental
sustainability.
. Urban poverty and its alleviation.
. Work force, employment in different sectors of economy
3. Housing and shelter:
Informal sector housing, slum up-gradation and resettlement strategy,
Housing need and requirement, parking

4. Transportation:
Mass transportation system and its integration with activity nodes/facility centres and land use pattern
Airport, seaport (as the case may be)
Travel demand forecast, Road length, hierarchy of roads, transport terminals,

5. Facilities:
Education: schools, technical institutes, universities;
Health care: Dispensary, health centres, hospitals;
Recreational;
Religious;
Socio-cultural; Parks and open spaces;

6. Public facilities:
Cultural facilities- museum, cultural centres;
Specialised hospitals and specialised education and research centres,

7. Open spaces:
protection of encroachment and misuse of open spaces,
8. Infrastructure:
Water: projected water demand, water treatment plant,

9. Land use requirement for (DCRs)
Residential areas
Primary residential
Mixed residential
Unplanned / informal residential
Commercial areas
Retail shopping
General business and commercial district / centres
Wholesale, godowns, warehousing /regulated markets
Manufacturing area
Service and light industry
Extensive and heavy industry
Special industrial, hazardous, noxious and chemical
Public and semi-public

Government / Semi Government / Public Offices
Government land (use undetermined)
Educational and research Medical and health
Social, cultural and religious
Utilities and services
Cremation and burial grounds
Parks, Playgrounds and Open Spaces
Playground / stadium/sports complex
Parks & gardens - public open spaces
Special recreational
- restricted open spaces
- Multipurpose open space
Transport and Communication
Roads
Railways
Airport
Seaports and dockyards
Bus depots / truck terminals and freight complexes, transport terminals
Transmission and communication
Special areas
Old built-up (core) area
Heritage and conservation areas
Scenic value areas
Disaster prone areas / Eco sensitive area
Agriculture
Agriculture
Forest
Poultry and dairy farming Rural settlements Brick kiln and extractive areas
Water-bodies Special activities, if any, like tourism or pilgrimage which results in increase of floating
population and demand for facilities and infrastructure. This will particularly be useful for hill towns and
pilgrimage towns.
10. Disaster management plans: Earthquake, cyclone, flood, land slide
11. Maps & Plans: Proposed land use plan
Plan Formulation
Based on planning techniques, planning theories/principles, national norms and standards, multiple alternatives of
urban planning concepts must be selected. Next level of plan formulation requires Vision development. At all scales
of plan formulation, land and transport integration is suggested at this stage of planning, wherein a comprehensive
mobility plan is to be formulated. All transportation surveys and studies should be undertaken independently by the
transport department or jointly under JnNURM scheme before this stage.
1. Visioning Exercise
The focus of the plan preparation exercise shall be on ensuring adequate stakeholder participation to arrive at a
shared vision for the settlements, with regard to economic development and quality of life. The vision thus arrived
shall form the guiding principle for the Regional or Development plan. These would include inter alia: Economic
Development Objectives; Transportation Objectives; Utility Services (levels and coverage) Objectives; Social
Infrastructure Objectives; Growth Pattern/Design Objectives; Investment Program/ Sustainability Objectives, etc.
2. Preparation of Alternative Concept Plans The outcomes of the first 3 stages would yield a digital updated
base map and land information system, a complete report on status of the region/city establishing existing
situation with regards all elements of development, identification of areas of concern, a shared vision and
development goals and objectives. This shall form the input for formulation of the Plan. The planning horizon for
the planning period shall be identified and the components shall include:
. Estimation of land requirement for different uses
. Environmental land suitability analysis
. Delineation of developable area based on environmental land suitability and growth trend
. Preparation of a general activity structure and
. Preparation of a conceptual land use plan as per the required scale.
.As projections are estimations of an envisioned pattern, deviation from the projection are always possible and
hence projected figures shall not be always be treated as absolute. Here it is required by planners to build
alternative scenarios and situations which may highlight the extremities as pessimistic or optimistic.
.The following key remarks to be focused while formulating the plan:
a. Land being limited but a very important natural resource in planning and must be utilized vigilantly. Great care
shall be taken regarding inter-relations of various activities and land uses with each other. Land uses only then
must be planned most solicitously. New concepts like compact cities, mixed land use etc. can also be explored.
b. Deteriorating traffic conditions due to faster increasing travel demand in cities have impact not only on
environment but also on economy by wastage of man-hours. Thus, to reduce the trip generation in the cities land
use and transport integration shall be made at the initial stage by incorporating TOD and mixed land use concepts.
c. As a part of the plan implementation, a study regarding quality and quantity manpower shall be done and
suggestions to be made concerning human resources requirement for effective implementation of all the aspects
of the plan.
d. To prepare and implement all the aspects of the plan for the whole plan period requires steady flow of finance.
Otherwise the optimum outcome of the plans cannot be realized. Thus, it is imperative to plan and map out all the
finance sources in the beginning of planning process so that appropriate plan proposals and milestones to be
targeted get maximum results. It should not only include finance for plan implementation but also for plan
preparation. At this stage only, revenue generation capacity of plan itself should also be defined with measurable
milestone against which plan can be later reviewed.
e. Other parameters, based on which plan is prepared and projected for plan period shall be provided with distinct
measurable milestone against which plan must be intermittently reviewed at interval of 5 years and finally
evaluated at the termination stage. This will work as input for next planning process from the previous plan period.
f. Remote sensing and GIS technologies should be used to speed up the plan formulation process. Large amount of
spatial and attribute data can be processed through these platforms and alternate concepts of planning human
settlements can be prepared in shorter time span. The data available with the NRSC and NUIS can be utilised for
the plan preparation.
3. Selection among Alternatives

The next level of plan formulation requires evaluation of all the alternatives to reach one selected alternative
that would be elaborated to prepare plan for the settlement. At this stage, focused group discussions or selected
representatives discussion can be arranged as appropriate. Usually evaluation of alternatives result into another
newly developed concept which derives the best from all the options.

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PLAN FORMULATION

Identification of Projected Needs

3. Housing and shelter:

Informal sector housing, slum up-gradation and resettlement strategy,

Housing need and requirement, parking

Airport, seaport (as the case may be)

Travel demand forecast, Road length, hierarchy of roads, transport terminals,

Education: schools, technical institutes, universities;

Health care: Dispensary, health centres, hospitals;

Socio-cultural; Parks and open spaces;

Cultural facilities- museum, cultural centres;

Specialised hospitals and specialised education and research centres,

Water: projected water demand, water treatment plant,

Public and semi-public

3. Selection among Alternatives

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